Patriots Earn Third Straight With Win Over Eagles, Fall To Linton

Patriots To Face South Vermillion In Sectional Semi-Final Thursday

Staff Report

Owen Valley junior Nolan King connects with a run-scoring triple, which turned into an inside the park home run thanks to a Brown County throwing error. (Staff Photo) After expanding their recent win streak to three games with a decisive 16-5 home and conference win over Brown County on May 15, Owen Valley suffered a 9-6 setback at Patriot Field the following night against Linton-Stockton.

The Patriots’ first Western Indiana Conference win of the season came on the arm of junior Nolan King, who earned the win on the mound after five innings of work. King allowed five runs, four of which were earned on seven hits and six free passes, with two strikeouts.

One lone error aide, the OV defense played solid for five innings, highlighted by a double play.

“I thought the best part of the game was we played hard the whole way... we played a good, clean, crisp game,” OV head coach Brian Greene said.

Senior shortstop Ronnie Schwartz fires a throw to first baseman Larry Shaffer (#11) to turn a double-play against Brown County. (Staff Photo) The Patriots tallied 13 hits on the night, including a double and triple from King, who drove in a pair of runs and scored twice.

Freshman catcher Chase Roberts went 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles, one run driven in and three runs scored. Senior center fielder Nathen Swafford also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and four runs batted in.

Senior shortstop Ronnie Schwartz scored four runs while going 3-for-4 at the plate with one run batted in and two stolen bases.

Junior third baseman Casey Roberts went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and one batted in, while freshman second baseman Hunter Sturgeon went 1-for-4 with two runs driven in and one run scored. Gunnar Ranard also added a hit and Wesley Arthur scored two runs.

The following night, May 16, the Patriots found themselves down early to Linton-Stockton, trailing 3-0 after the first inning. Despite a valiant effort to rally from behind, OV allowed four more runs in the top of the seventh inning and were unable to produce the runs needed at the plate.

Sophomore Devon Shouse recorded the loss on the mound after pitching all seven innings. Shouse allowed all nine runs, only five of which were earned, on 10 hits and no walks, while striking out six Miners.

“I didn’t think we played bad, but made three mistakes – we mishandled two grounders and Devon made one bad pitch,” coach Greene said. “Devon went the distance in his first varsity start – that’s not bad at all – but we could have helped him out more. He did a really nice job. We did some good things defensively; Gunnar played as well in left field as he has played all year. He made a diving catch, he caught a deep ball near the fence and started a relay where we got a runner trying to advance to second. And Nolan made a tough play in the hole, so there were some good things.”

The Patriots tallied eight hits on the night, with a Casey Roberts home run being the only extra base hit. Roberts finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs batted in and three runs scored.

Swafford went 2-for-3 on the night with a run batted in and a stolen base, while Gunnar Ranard and Michael Hendershot each reached base on singles and Ronnie Schwartz scored a run and stole a base.

“We call a big inning three runs or more and we weren’t able to get over the hump, but I do think we’re swinging the bat pretty well,” coach Greene added. “I really like where we’re going.”